Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
This show was a big step away from the ordinary and comfortable for me. I do not generally listen to country music unless Jenny Lewis and She and Him’s first album count, and I’m pretty sure they don’t. So really I had no idea what to expect. What I got was a fun evening full of talented musicians and smiles. Continue reading “Show Review: Turkey Trot 2010 with The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit, Misisipi Rider, Hang Jones and Walking in Sunlight at Cafe Du Nord 11/26/10”
Happy Black Friday, ladies & gentlemen! I was very busy yesterday, and fell alseep while trying to compile this list for Thursday, so I apologize if my lack of guidance made Thanksgiving horrible. Please enjoy these tips, instead, and we will be back next week on schedule!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 11/26/2010-12/01/2010”
WOW.
Wild Flag, the much-buzzed new supergroup featuring Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, Mary Timony of Helium, Janet Weiss of S-K and Quasi, and Rebecca Cole of The Minders, made their Bay Area debut last night. And what a debut it was.
As massive undertakings go, a tour focused around three-show residencies, full-album sets, and no-opener-just-what-you-paid-to-see performances is pretty high up on the list. The ante is upped even further when the third night of said shows is focused on an album entirely comprised of cover songs — most of which, according to the band tonight, had never been played live before. The thousand-plus fans that showed up to witness A Perfect Circle perform these songs at the final night of their Fillmore residency reacted to such a statement with awe and applause — while all good things must, eventually, come to an end, the precision and care that the band emphasized in tonight’s show helped their stay come to a brilliant conclusion, and the crowd was all the more excited to witness it.
Continue reading “Show Review: A Perfect Circle performing eMOTIVe at The Fillmore, 11/18/2010″
Check out the concerts around the Bay Area this week — after the jump.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 11/18/2010-11/24/2010”
The average passerby outside The Fillmore this evening might have been puzzled at the sight that met their eyes. Several hundred people — maybe around a thousand at the most — all lined up next to the post office? There’s no big tour bus, no semi full of stage gear, parked out in front of the famous club. The more keen-eyed observers — specifically, those who might have happened by this location yesterday — might also have spotted a great deal of people from the night before this one. What would possibly draw so many people back again? It’s still two hours before the doors open, but the devoted fans of A Perfect Circle don’t mind the wait; tonight marks the second of the band’s 3-night album-performance residency at the Fillmore, with their sophomore effort Thirteenth Step taking center stage for the evening that was to follow.
As singer Maynard James Keenan would say later on that night, the message of excitement that ran through the crowd was a simple one: “Welcome to Night Two.”
Delta Spirit, one of my personal favorite bands, is coming to the Bay Area in December. Their breakthrough album Ode to Sunshine was packed with such raw, personable authenticity that it was shocking to find out they had emerged from my hometown of San Diego (land of the cultural brain fart). This band came together organically. Through the music you can hear the enjoyment of their jamming together and the shit-talking session that ensues, which is at the core of what makes it work. Their music is intimate, free and unapologetic like a good drunken conversation. I can’t wait to hear what they’ve come out the recording cabin with this time. They have a steady track record of releasing an album every two years and then touring like, well, like dedicated musicians. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Brandon Young of Delta Spirit”
In live music, one of the most intriguing types of performances to see is a full-album show. It is gratifying for the fans who want to hear that ONE obscure song that their favorite band NEVER plays live, and it is a challenge for the band who may not be used to playing said compositions — in a long time, or possibly at all. To take this concept and span it out into multiple nights, in multiple cities, for multiple albums, is an even bigger feat. Leave it, of course, to the men in A Perfect Circle to step up to this challenge — for they have arrived in San Francisco, and are taking over the Fillmore Auditorium for the next three nights, for this very purpose.
Continue reading “Show Review: A Perfect Circle performing Mer de Noms at The Fillmore, 11/16/2010″
When it comes to the category of music known as “industrial rock”, there are a wide variety of definitions and interpretations. One constant seems to be an influx of heavy analog synth pulses, machine-gun-precise drumbeats, snarled vocals, and a collection of black-clad, morose musicians, often pounding away at keys or writhing to the underworld rhythms. Being that industrial bands often share these similarities, it is reasonable that one could go to an industrial show with little prior knowledge of the main group, and still enjoy themselves as they were mostly certain of what the evening would be like. With the Essex EBM trio of Nitzer Ebb, however, the darkness and somber attitudes are shrugged off, in favor of a minimalist but wildly energetic performance that got even the moodiest rivetheads in the audience up on their feet and defying gravity in favor of the industrial masters’ performance.
Continue reading “Show Review: Nitzer Ebb with //TENSE// at The Mezzanine, 11/11/2010”
“You need to be dancing harder.”
I stared into the face of the woman who’d just punched me in the arm to get my attention and tell me this. She continued, “You need to be dancing more, like this, up and down, having fun.” I ignored a passing instinct to punch her in the face, and smiled instead. “Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay!” she shrieked in closing.
A moment later, she punched me again. “Are you from Barcelona?” she inquired.
“No. I’m from Pittsburgh.” She stopped talking to me after that.
Continue reading “Show Review: Delorean, Lemonade at Great American Music Hall, 11/10/10”